Michael Phelps Emotionally Reflects on Having His Son Watch Him Win Gold

by Meredith B. Kile
6:59 PM PDT, August 10, 2016

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Michael Phelps Emotionally Reflects on Having His Son Watch Him Win Gold

Michael Phelps won his 20th and 21st career Olympic gold medals in Rio on Tuesday night, but it was a moment following the 200m butterfly finals that might end up being the highlight of the Games for the most-decorated Olympian of all time.

Phelps, who has been upbeat and all smiles on the podium this Olympics (a sharp contrast to the intense pre-race #PhelpsFace that went viral before the 200m fly semi-finals), was visibly emotional during his gold medal ceremony. Afterwards, the 31-year-old swimmer got to share the moment with his 3-month-old son, Boomer, who sat in the stands with Phelps’ fiancee, Nicole Johnson, during the finals.

“You’re going to bring tears to my eyes now,” Phelps told NBC’s Michelle Tafoya of the touching moment after a preliminary race in the 200m individual medley on Wednesday. “I wanted to be with him more. Being able to share that one moment that I had with him, [that was] definitely something that was very special.”

The heartwarming father-son moment was captured by a slew of press photographers, something Phelps said he was thankful for in the whirlwind of Olympic competition. “I look forward to seeing more and more photos of that,” he explained.

Phelps will have a few more opportunities to share gold medal moments with baby Boomer before the week is up. He will likely compete in the finals for the 200m IM on Thursday and 100m butterfly on Friday and could also participate in the men’s 4x100m medley relay to close out the swimming competition on Saturday.